Want, Need, Desire
by Illuminatedessence
Summary: When one has lost their reason for being, they create another. Sakura helps Sasuke cope, but will he eventually consume her with all that he is? M for later chapters, may get a little dark or morbid.
1. Ache

**A.N.: New Story. xD I don't own the characters or the show, yada yada. **

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Vines overlapped each other, causing a spidery web of problematic greenery. Such tough plants were abruptly snapped or sliced. A man-made object had shown them their demise. It was unlikely that this would do any real damage to the wild life, or the vine plant itself. Only a portion of it's appendages had been slashed.

"Are we there yet, Kakashi-sensei? We've been traveling for hours! Can't we just take a break?" Rough like sandpaper, but deep and smooth enough to be known as an older male, spoke. In this humidity, even Naruto was likely to become uncomfortable enough to want to rest, and they'd been walking for hours. They referred to Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, Sai and unexpectedly.. Sasuke.

Kakashi merely looked upon his former students with a lazy eye. "We're not much farther, keep going." His timber voice voice seemed nonchalant, and upon looking at his masked face, all of the younger ninja could tell that his eyes were trained on his personal book, rather than where they were going.

"You said that like.. Five times already!" Exclaimed Naruto. "You've asked at least seven times in the last our, Naruto." Kakashi lazily retorted. While they fought, the other three kept on going without so much as saying a word.

Sakura was ahead of the the boys, her eyes darting from map to the forest, and back again. The two behind her traveled silently alongside each other. Sai and Sasuke weren't tense with each other, per se, but they definitely kept their distance when off missions. They both seemed strangely unsociable, though Sai still tried to learn certain things on social behavior while Sasuke maintained emotional distance from everyone.

"Guys," Sakura called, earning the attention from the others. "I think we're here. The cave should be just up ahead. You can already see ruins of carvings in the underbrush."

True enough, there were broken and crumbling carvings of stone everywhere. Strange and oddly shaped faces stared up endlessly, listlessly. Their eyes were nothing more than chipped rock. Large noses and eyes for a small head, leading to a screaming mouth that was held up by a fat and immobile body.

"These things look creepy." Naruto said, leaning down to look. Sakura agreed, but said nothing.

As they neared the cave, which looked nothing more than a hole in the ground with vines obscuring it-they pulled out their kunai and tore more vines away to make a path.

Sasuke's sharingan switched on, and the male grit his teeth. It wasn't as painful as it had been in the passed few months, what with Sakura's healing techniques. She'd learned quite a bit about sharingan and had learned on how to focus chakra on certain nerves and points to relieve stress.

However, Sasuke hadn't been touched by healing hands in quite a while. He'd been dealing with punishments and missions and Naruto. As much as he hated to admit, the pain was getting harsh enough that he needed to _avoid_ using his eyes.

Striking a match, the male grabbed a candle from his pack and lit it before looking around. The others started closer, grabbing their candles and lighting them from his. Naruto looked more like the fox inside him, his whiskers becoming more prominent and eyes seeming darker. The candle light made irregular shadows to cast across his face. The only difference was the lack of somberness he held.

Kakashi put his book away, the candle light becoming too troublesome to read by. Instead, her took the lead and sighed.

"Sai, Sakura go...Ah, how about N-hm.." Pausing for a moment, Kakashi assessed the group. The mission wasn't high ranked, but held booby traps that could easily best people distracted. Sai was most likely to anger Sakura, and with her monster strength, could collapse the cave. Naruto and Sai annoyed each other, but they seemed less likely to kill each other, even if they were side tracked by traps.

"Sai. You and Naruto wi-" Kakashi was cut off with Naruto's groan. "Kakashi! Why can't I be paired up with Sasuke-Teme or Sakura-chan?"

"As I was saying.. You two go left. Sakura, you and Sasuke will go right. I'll go ahead by myself. If you run into trouble, use your microphones for contact. We'll meet back here. Be sure to tag the places you've been, and if the cave splits off again, radio in to let me know."

They all nodded, Naruto sulking, Sai fake smiling, Sasuke and Sakura keeping stoney expressions. As they went their separate ways, Sasuke used his sharingan to see farther ahead, searching for any possible traps.

"You're straining your nerves again." Sakura stated. Her tone was stern, as if she were chastising a child.

"Hn. When we're done with the mission, I'll get a check-up so you can heal them." Frowning, Sakura silently disapproved, but again, said nothing. After a few minutes, Sasuke found a string, thin as a spiderweb. He might have mistaken it for one, if not for the peculiar angle. It was only one string, far enough from the ground to be hit by feet, but low enough not to be noticed easily. They disabled the trap before continuing.

After about an hour, more traps followed, each more complex and more desperate than the last. Sakura sighed and sat for a moment, drinking from her canteen. Sasuke had run out of water earlier, and they hadn't come across a stream since then, despite the humid _rain_ forest. Sakura had packed enough that she knew she'd need more than canteen. Finishing her sip, she gave him the bottle.

Moving once more, they finally made it to an entrance of some sort, but upon touching the stone, the cave started to crumble behind them, the door falling down to reveal an abandoned room. A single scroll lay in the middle of the room, on a pedestal in the center of the room.

"I suppose we're not getting out that way." Sakura told Sasuke, who 'hned' in response. Grabbing the scroll, the searched the room for another way out, and spotted another hole. This one seemed less likely to crumble on them. "Sasuke, let Kakashi and the others know that we might not be able to meet up with them." Sasuke followed orders, but was annoyed to find that their signaling devices weren't working.

"Sakura.. They're.. broken." Checking the inside of the wire, Sakura became increasingly irrated with their situation. "Fine. We'll just go and hope to meet up with them soon." Grunting, Sasuke led the way through the room's only other exit. Slipping through the small opening, they walked for another hour or two in silence. Then..

"Sakura." Sasuke broke the silence, turning to Sakura. The candle went out, a foreign wind blowing it until the flame no longer flared. This meant that there was an opening. They both noticed this, but Sasuke seemed to want to say something.

"Ah? What is it?" Suddenly pushed against the wall, Sasuke buried his head into her neck and sighed. His breath tickled her skin, which smelled of salty sweat and her own aroma. Biting her, he ran his hands up her sides before trailing them back down her waist again. He could feel her pulse and his own was thumping, _thumping, thumping_ with the adrenaline that flooded him. The taste of her was engulfing him and couldn't contain the soft groan. Want, need, _**desire**_, filled and fled him in a few instants.

"Nothing. Never mind." Pulling away, he sighed and licked his lips, red swirling tomoes on her bite. "There's an opening close down. We should hurry."

Sakura complied. The female didn't even question his actions further. In the past year and a half that he'd been back, each time she was alone with him, he showed some act of aggression or dominance. He'd bitten her before or always did something to leave his mark on her. It had started when she was his babysitter. Kiba had been flirting heavily, making passes and dropping innuendos. It had made Sasuke angry, and Sakura nearly smashed his face in after Kiba left. He'd grabbed her, made a few hand signals, and slid his hand up her back. She felt a slight burning sensation and thought he was trying to harm her. This was before he'd earned trust back into the village. He grabbed a mirror, brought her to the bathroom, and showed her the symbol. It was his clan's symbol. It meant that she was his.

Since then, she didn't question him when he did these things. He needed something to protect, to live for. Something. By marking her in his symbol, it meant that he had something to live for. Anytime Naruto, Sai or Kakashi noticed the marks, she had an excuse on hand. Others had noticed too, like Ino. They were skeptic to her excuses and pointed suspicious eyes at Sasuke. He seemed unconcerned with this, and nearly dared them to ask if he'd been the one to cause the marks that mysteriously showed up. Sakura could easily heal such wounds, but the fact that she didn't was even stranger. Sasuke marked her twice as many times if she tried to heal them, which usually resulted with bites and bruises along her shoulder, neck and collarbone.

"Neh! Sakura, Teme! We were worried about you." Called Naruto, at the mouth of the cave. "We'd heard the collapse all the way down where we were.. You guys get the scroll? Hey, Sakura what's on you-" Naruto twitched as Sasuke brushed passed him, pushing the scroll in his hands.

"A bat attacked me." Sakura stretched, not bothering to come up with something more believable.

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Later, when they'd set up camp in a safer part of the forest, everyone got ready for their sleep and set up their tents. Deep into the night, Sakura woke to find Sasuke in her tent, looking down at her with the same red eyes as before.

"Sas-ke?" She mumbled sleepily, sitting up. He hushed her before pressing his mouth to her throat, nipping and biting. His hand reached behind her to finger the fan scar on her back.

"Your head hurts?" A nod indicated that she was right, his hair tickling her cheek. Pressing her hands to his temples, she used her chakura to find his injured nerves, releasing and easing the tension.

Sasuke could feel her chakra invading him, and had long lowered his defenses to her. The feeling of her chakura was soothing and lulled him. Once she finished, she found that Sasuke was asleep on her chest. She didn't move him, knew he didn't want her to. With that, she tucked herself back in and fell asleep herself.

Kakashi watched from a distance. Sasuke had seen him before he went inside Sakura's tent, and Kakashi knew that Sasuke had seen him watching. "Hmmm." Kakashi let out a breath through his nose, pondering what this could mean for the future.

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**A.N.: First Chapter up. Reviews, let me know what you think will happen, what you want to happen and what you dread will happen. 3 I love you all.**

**~Illuminated Essence.**


	2. Tastes like Copper and Looks Crimson

**A.N. : Yo. Another chapter up. ^ ^ I tried hard on this one.. Ah, let me know of my mistakes in them, thanks. 3 Review please.**

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The sound of packing woke Sakura that morning, long before dawn. Looking around, the female surmised that Sasuke had left sometime ago. Upon crawling out of the tent, the female spotted all of her team mates. They stood still the moment they noticed her presence. Everyone seemed to have a certain look upon their face. Sasuke just grunted and shoved passed them, starting to pack up Sakura's tent.

"Sasuke.. I can do that, you know." She shooed him away before disassembling the tent. Again, once she stood, several pairs of eyes landed on her.

Annoyed, the female turned to them and snipped. "Is there a problem?" Naruto shrugged and smiled uneasily whilst Kakashi chuckled. Sai, on the other hand, merely nodded and spoke. "Sasuke was caught coming out of your tent last night, Sakura. Kakashi says you're really not pegged as a 'silent type'. What does that mean, exactly? Are you and Sasuke reproducing? I thought couples were only able to do that after the oath of marriage."

To say that Sakura was mortified was an understatement. Rearing back, Sakura hit Sai with her full strength, her knuckles making contact with that fake smile of his. He was only lucky that she didn't put any chakra into that hit, and she'd bet her ass that she wasn't healing him.

A few hours later, Sakura looked back to find Sai rubbing his swollen jaw. It may have been fractured, she surmised, especially due to the swelling around the joints. Sasuke seemed to be tense along their journey. Everytime Naruto tried to start conversation, the latter would grunt and lag further behind. Kakashi occasionally chastised him and Naruto for loitering, which got matching grunts from both the boys.

When they finally stopped for rest, there was a small inn. They weren't short on money, and there was plenty of vacancy for them to stay. There was a bathing room and comfortable beds. It was brilliant. Sakura spent her time unpacking for the night. Later on, she grabbed her towel and went down to the natural springs bathing room. There was no mixed bathing, but a wooden wall that separated the male's bath from the female's. There was enough water flow so that the water could circulate, and it seemed quite fancy for such a modest inn.

Still, she was alone in her side of the bath room and could hear someone entering on the other side. A loud obnoxious voice made its way to her ears, and she snorted. "Naruto, it's a spring. Stop being so loud." A chuckle came from the male's end. Kakashi agreed and soon it was silent again, save for the splashing as they bathed.

After fifteen minutes, the sound of splashing and footsteps hit her ears, and then a door slid open. "See you later, Sak- Eh, Sasuke, you commin'?"

A moment of silence and then, "Hn. Give me a few minutes." A sigh slipped from Naruto's lips, and then the door slid shut.

"Sakura." Said Sasuke. She replied with, "Hm?"

"Leave your door unlocked tonight." Water dripping could be heard, and then the tap of more footsteps. Without so much as another word, Sasuke left as well. This left Sakura alone once more, finishing her bathing. Reaching behind her, the female felt the scar on her back, and vaguely wondered what was going on in Sasuke's mind. She knew he was too.. Too far gone to really _love_. To love in the way that normal people would.

They were all too far gone to love normally, really. After all that had happened, even she had trouble showing anyone other than forced smiles and polite distance. The only people she really cared for were the one's that risked their life for her, as she risked hers for them. Even then, there was something silent, something that they couldn't really express with words to show their feelings. It was too difficult to cope that way, and everyone had forgotten how to be normal.

No one snuck up behind the other when they weren't training. You let the person know who you were before touching them on the shoulder or arm. There were no 'boos' or tricks. Not anymore. The last time that happened, Kiba had nearly had his throat ripped out, and Sakura still felt guilty. It was so hard to stop her fingers from digging in and she just had to _keep, keep, keep_ her mind straight. Remember who he was. That he wouldn't hurt her, that she wasn't going to be bathing in blood.

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and stood. They'd begun to wander rather quickly these days. She was not old, but the child had been sapped out of her, whatever was left had retreated to her core, to be hidden for only rare moments.

Drying herself at the door, the female slipped into a robe and went to her room, keeping it unlocked as Sasuke had asked.. Asked? He hadn't asked, had he? He'd demanded. He was always demanding, always in control. It was so painful. After a while, she wished she could let herself loose control, but the risk was too high as a kunoichi.

Sakura slipped into one of her civilian shirts and shorts before drying her hair. Once she finished, the female lay in bed, only then remembering that she needed to eat. As she stood, Sasuke entered the room and looked over at her.

"Where are you going?" He asked, looking wary. Her response made him grunt. "I forgot about supper."

"Ah. I'll accompany you. I haven't eaten yet either." With that, he opened the door and stared, waiting for her to walk out, so that he could follow. Even as a ninja, he was courteous, which annoyed her to no end. In this line of work, how did one remember to be … Nice? To be polite? She managed it, but even she wondered.

After eating a healthy little meal at a small restaurant nearby, they headed to the inn once more. Slipping inside, Sakura expected Sasuke to follow easily and sit somewhere. However, she was forcefully pushed by him, toward the door, which slammed closed once she impacted it. He had her hands above her to stop from reaching her kunai, and his sharingan were spinning rapidly, the tomoe bright against his charcoal irises.

This time, his bites were harder than usual, and even then they were rough. She hissed and he tore at her shirt, leaving angry, bloody marks. Finally fed up, Sakura shoved him back with her legs. "Sasuke, enough. Explain. I let you do this, but it's enough."

He stared for a moment, seemingly calm, but she knew better. His look had grown hard. He was controlling his temper, trying to keep it at bay. "I won't explain myself just yet. Bear with it for a bit longer."

It wasn't a suggestion, another demand. To add to that, she felt him approach her once more, and hot breath mingled over her goosebumped flesh. Her civilian shirt was ripped down part of the collar, and he was leaving more marks again. He'd groan occasionally, or make a rumbling noise that she felt more than heard. Briefly, the kunoichi wondered if he was growling.

Leaving only after giving her dozens of marks, Sasuke walked to his own room. He licked the edges of his teeth, which stained with her blood. He could still taste her, wanted to taste her more, but held himself back. He was obsessive, and this was the only way he could show Sakura how he felt. It was hard to restrain himself, sadistic tendencies opening up from years of twisted actions. To harm her and force her to endure it, without actually inflicting too much pain.. He conveyed his feelings this way. Enough. _Not. Enough. __**Never enough.**_ It wasn't enough, and there was too little blood, too little of her whimpers to get him off. He was sick. He was twisted. She knew, he knew that she did. She didn't mind much, he already knew.


End file.
